Molds, and Flowers, and Dust Mites, Oh MY!

My Eyes Still Are Swollen...Zinc? Celiac?

My eyes continue to be inflamed and have flaky skin.  I'm starting to wonder if I should try avoiding things like caffeine and alcohol to see if the inflammation will go away.  This morning, I considered drinking tea instead of my normal americano, but i just didn't make it that far.  I've also considered trying zinc as I know some forms of eczema can be from a lack of zinc.

My mom sent me an article talking about how some sorts of eczema and depression can be tied to ciliac disease. (http://www.celiaccentral.org/Do_I_Have_Celiac_/13/)  There are several individuals i know that have had this diagnosed by doctors, and not as part of this fad diagnosis going around.  One individual is a family member, so it's possible that I might suffer from this, but the eczema description wasn't on the right part of my body (elbows, and knees, not mouth and eyes). 

One of my friends though found great relief from changing her diet and avoiding all sorts of gluten.  Her carpel tunnel syndrome and ability to sleep have improved drastically.  I actually never knew how bad some of her problems were until she went to see a specific doctor about her symptoms.   

Ecezma-1 Me-0

OK, I really thought that  a 9-day burst of prednisone would take care of the inflammation.  It worked great for the first couple days, but by the time the taper reached 20 milligrams for the last two days, I could already see it was coming back.  OK, I guess I could feel it coming back more than anything.

I was off the prednisone for 2 days and decided to refill the prescription one more time.  I probably should have gone back to the local allergy clinic before doing this, but after dealing with this off and on for the last 25 years, I am pretty sure that they would have gone for a second round. 

Ecezma: Prednisone

After being on prednisone for the last five days, my eye eczema is finally subsiding.  Apparently this is one of the worst years on record for pollens, and my doctor thinks that they were sticking to my skin, causing breakouts on exposed skin.  So, now I need to get into the habit of washing my hair every evening, or at least making an effort to rinse all of the pollen off of me.

HOpefully, this will keep me from having to go back on sterioids for a long time!  They do such strange things to my appetite and mood.

Follow Up on Skin Eczema Woes

I've stopped using the steroid cream on my eyes.  I know that after a couple weeks, this is no good anymore as it will cause long term damage to my skin.  Tomorrow, I'm headed to Northwest Asthma and Allergy to see if they can suggest something else that I haven't tried yet.

As it's been more than a week since I've put any thing on my eyelids (other than dry skin lotion), the inflammation is getting worse.  It's to the point where people have thought that I'm wearing eye-makeup and have started to look a bit like someone from KISS.  The goal is to show this in it's true form when I"m at the doctor tomorrow and not some treated version that they don't think I've got a problem.  My eyelids are still quite swollen and a little weepy from time to time and sooner or later, someone is going to think that I'm a leper based on the amount of sloughing skin I'm shedding.

Skin Inflamation Woes

I'm tired of the skin around my eyes being inflamed. My eczema is really acting up because I keep eating things that make me break out.  Both yeast and beef trigger inflammation about four to five days after I eat it, but I find if I don't eat much of either, I seem to be able to control the inflammation.  I've dealt with this off and on for years, but lately I can't get it back under control. 

I know that I need to be very diligent about avoiding yeast for at least 2-3 weeks, but that's hard.  I have other food allergies that it's not a problem to avoid the food because I get violently ill or just feel sick.  I'm not one to take my life into my own hands and eat a scrambled egg, or just eat some good ice-cream if I'm going to feel like I've got the flu for the next six hours.  Bread, on the other hand, is tasty!  I've cut a lot of it out of my diet, but it sneaks into things in a lot of forms like autolized yeast extract. 

I'm really only allergic to baker's yeast, and not brewer's yeast.  Well, at least that's what the skin tests said a couple years ago.  I am not sure that exempts me from drinking wine or not. If I'm having problems, it might be a good thing to cut that down for a while too (not that I have more than a glass every few days).  Too bad I just dumped a bunch of wine into chicken soup that I'm currently making.  I'm not sure that even cooking it for three hours will completely inactivate the proteins that make my eyes red and scaly. It would be nice to be a bit less concerned about how noticeably inflamed my skin is.

I shouldn't complain too much because the patches are isolated and it's not like it covers half my body or anything like that.  Many people are much worse off than me, but for one of the first times in my life, I'm feeling a bit vain. There is only so long I can put cortisone on my eyes before I'm worried about the damage it might cause.  I'll try it consistently for a couple of days, along with strong moisturizers every couple hours, avoid the yeast, and hope that it gets better.  If not, I might have to go back to the doctor and see if there is anything prescription that she can do for me.